Riding the Age Wave: Will your club sink or swim?

Christine Thalwitz

50+

Boomers

(1946-1964)

Responsible Generation (1925-1945)

Greatest Generation (1901-1924)

Who are these “older adults”?

Is your company ready for the “Age Wave”?

Approximately 78 million Boomers & 32 million from the Responsible Generation

Within 20 years, the age profile of America will match that of Florida: 1 in 5 Americans over age 65

Boomers who are age 65 can expect to live another 17 or 18 years

80% of all the population growth between now and 2040 will be from the over-50 crowd

Sources: PBS.org, “Boomer Century”, Ken Dychtwald, author of Age Wave, and

U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, Audience Insights: Communicating to the Responsible Generation

(Aged 64-84) http://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/Audience/AudienceInsight_adult.pdf

Boomer Stats: Fact or Fiction?

T/F: The majority of boomers are empty nesters ◦ False! Only one in four boomers fit that profile

◦ 37% still have children under 18 in the home

T/F: One third of boomers are single ◦ True! And divorce rates are trending up

T/F: There are more boomer females than males ◦ True! But only by a little…51% female, 49% male

Source: U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, Audience Insights: Communicating to Boomers (1946-1962)

http://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/audience/audienceinsight_boomers.pdf

The Responsible Generation: Fact or Fiction?

T/F: Women outnumber men ◦ True! 54% women compared to 46% men

◦ This trend will continue with increasing age

T/F: More women than men influence household purchasing decisions ◦ True! 71% of women compared to 59%

T/F: Make up less than 2% of the workforce ◦ False! 8% of this generation are in the workplace

Source: U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, Audience Insights: Communicating to the Responsible Generation (Aged 64-84)

http://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/Audience/AudienceInsight_adult.pdf

Factors Reshaping Supply & Demand

The new “old” is 80, living to 90 – 100 is commonplace

Life is no longer linear, it’s cyclical with new adult lifestages: empty-nesting, caregiving, grandparenthood, retirement, mature singlehood & “rehirement”

Marketing epicenter will shift from trendsetting youth to the 40-, 50- and 60-something “influentials”

Sources: Interview w/Ken Dychtwald, http://jw.intelligence.com &

Ken Dychtwald’s blog at http://huffingtonpost.com/ken-dychtwald

Root Motivators

Autonomy & independence

Social connectedness & relationships

Altruism & responsibility

Growth & experiences

Revitalization

Sources: Jim Gilmartin, The Parting of the Ways: Why Communicating with Baby Boomers & Senior Customers Is Different

http://www.comingofage.com/wp-content/themes/coa/articles/The-Parting-of-the-Ways.pdf

Would you like to live to 100?

67% say yes!

Biggest worries about longevity: ◦ Losing their health

◦ Being a burden on family

◦ Running out of money

Benefits of longevity: ◦ Continuing to remain productive

◦ Developing deeper relationships

◦ Watching the world evolve

Source: Ken Dychtwald’s blog at http://huffingtonpost.com/ken-dychtwald

Health Satisfaction Gaps

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Very Satisfied Very Important

Source: National Marketing Institute 2011 Healthy Aging Boomer Database

Health-related behaviors & attitudes

Boomers Responsible

35 - 50% are willing to pay anything where it concerns their health

73% believe they should exercise more than they do

68% try to eat healthier foods these days and 41% consider their diet to be very healthy

50% are willing to pay anything where it concerns their health

About 40% say they exercise on a regular basis

Most frequent injury is from unintentional falls (46% men & 60% women)

Source: Experian Simmons National Consumer Study

as reported by the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, Audience Insights: Communicating to the Responsible Generation (Aged 64-84) & Audience Insights:

Communicating to Boomers (1946-1962)

People don’t want drills, they want holes!

Older adults don’t want gym memberships, they want:

(fill in the blank) ____________________________

What are their key emotional drivers?

Needs, wants, desires, problems, fears

How have you positioned yourself as the answer, pathway or solution?

What business are you in?

Improve health

Get healthy & stay healthy

Independence & quality of life

Be part of a community

Look and feel good

Health-oriented

◦ Embrace aging

and/or

Self-image

◦ Want to defy the aging process

…but wisdom & experience are

valued over a return to youth!

Have fun

In club experience

Programs

Training

Service

Perceived value of the marketing mix

High Value

Personal experience

Special marketing event

Referral or recommendation from family or friends

News story or press

Research and consumer reports

Talking with a rep during the sales process

Mass media advertising

Low Value

The Boomer Brain

Thinks big picture

Values experiences over material things

Rejects absolutes

Is sensitive to subtlety and nuance

Relies more on intuition, less on reason

Is skeptical, must earn trust

Processes objective information differently

Wants more content than younger consumers

Source: Jim Gilmartin, Tell Them a Story, http://www.comingofage.com/wp-content/themes/coa/articles/To-Increase-Sales-to-Baby-Boomers-Tell-Them-a-Story.pdf &

The Parting of the Ways: Why Communicating with Baby Boomers & Senior Customers Is Different, http://www.comingofage.com/wp-content/themes/coa/articles/The-Parting-of-the-Ways.pdf

Spending Habits of the Responsible Generation

Generally cautious and conservative

Willing to pay more for items they deem worthy

Nearly 70% believe it is worth paying extra for quality

More than 50% indicate that they do not base purchases on ads alone, but they do believe ads help them learn more about what is available

Source: U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, Audience Insights: Communicating to the Responsible Generation (Aged 64-84)

http://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/Audience/AudienceInsight_adult.pdf

Tell a story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXrMzOnz-fY&feature=share&list=UUu4s1wmtCITLyYbTpTxupVg

Testimonial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFeb6rk2TtU&feature=share&list=UUu4s1wmtCITLyYbTpTxupVg

PREP program ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTgUEDNZscM&feature=share&list=UUu4s1wmtCITLyYbTpTxupVg

Design considerations

Font

◦Serif or Sans Serif ?

Size, Size, Size

Spacing

Colors Count

Inset paragraphs can help the reader focus on important points or lengthier sentences.

Image is everything!

More on images

“It’s a sensitive zone, because how does one communicate with people at different stages of life in a way that allows them to feel spoken to and respected, celebrated, but not necessarily put into an older age bucket?

Source: Interview w/Ken Dychtwald, http://jw.intelligence.com

“A lot of people who are 60 and 70, they listen to the language, look at the models and look at the ads, and they feel offended. That’s Marketing 101: Respect your customer. Marketing 102 is ‘Celebrate your customer.’”

“Transgenerational marketing”

Advertising & Promotions

Simplify

Less is often more

Make it meaningful

Consider the medium

Give the user autonomy

Remember the call to action!

How to LOSE the sale

Rattle off lists of benefits and features

Neglect to build a relationship

Push information rather than responding to pull signals

Speak quickly

Jump from topic to topic

Fail to ask open-ended questions

Treat older adults as part of a single “senior market”

Embellish and hype

Stress self-indulgence

Older Adults & Social Media

53% of American adults ages 65 & up use the internet or email and of those online users, 70% go online in a typical day

Seven in 10 seniors own a cell phone

One in three online adults use social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn

#1 reason for use = stay connected with family

Source: Pew Internet Research, http://pewinternet.org

Celebrate their success

Connect them to the community

Feedback

Thank you.

Christine Thalwitz christineot@acac.com